MacCarthy (Irish: Mac Cárthaigh), also spelled Macarthy, McCarthy or McCarty, is an Irish clan originating from Munster, an area they ruled during the Middle Ages.[1] It was divided into several septs (branches) of which the MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Muskerry, and MacCarthy of Duhallow were the most notable.
The origin of the MacCarthy dynasty begins with Carthach, an Eóganacht Chaisil king, who died in 1045 in a house fire deliberately started by one of the Lonergans (who were members of the Eóganacht's arch-enemies, the Dál gCais). Carthach was a contemporary and bitter rival of High King Brian Boru, and what would become known as the McCarthy Clan was pushed out of its traditional homelands in the Golden Vale of Tipperary by the expansion of the O'Brien sept in the middle of the twelfth century.
Carthach's son was known as Muireadhach mac Carthaigh (meaning "Muireadhach, son of Carthach"). Such ephemeral patronymics were common at the time. However, when Muireadhach died in 1092 his sons Tadhg and Cormac adopted Mac Carthaigh as an actual surname. Following the treaty of Glanmire in 1118, dividing the kingdom of Munster into Desmond and Thomond, this Tadhg became the first king of Desmond, comprising parts of the modern counties of Cork and Kerry. For almost five centuries they dominated much of Munster, with four major branches: those led by the MacCarthy Mór (Great MacCarthy), nominal head of all the MacCarthys, who ruled over much of south Kerry, the Duhallow MacCarthys, who controlled north-west Cork; MacCarthy Reagh or Riabhach ('grey') based in the Barony of Carbery in south-west Cork; and MacCarthy Muskerry, on the Cork / Kerry border.
Each of these families continued resistance to Norman and English encroachment up to the seventeenth century when, like virtually all the Gaelic aristocracy, they lost almost everything. An exception was Macroom Castle, which passed to the White family of Bantry House, descendants of Cormac Láidir Mac Cárthaigh. This was burnt in 1922 and is part of the local golf club today.[3]
The Muskerry McCarthys' historical seat is Blarney Castle in County Cork. Legend has it that the Blarney Stone was given as a gift to Cormac MacCarthy, King of Desmond, from king Robert the Bruce of Scotland, who presented the 'magical' stone in gratitude for his assistance in the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The third castle built on the site (the castle which stands to this day) was built by another McCarthy descendant, Dermot McCarthy, in 1446. Dermot was known for his eloquence, hence the Blarney Stone's reputation for imparting the gift of the gab upon those who kiss it.
The number of references to the MacCarthys in the annals, especially the "Annals of Innisfallen", is very great. Carthach was the son of Saoirbhreathach, a Gaelic name which is anglicised as Justin, and in the latter form has been in continuous use among many branches of the McCarthys for centuries. Another male forename similarly associated with them is Finghin, anglice Fineen, but for some centuries past, the name Florence (colloquially Flurry) has been used as its English form. From the thirteenth century, when Fineen MacCarthy decisively defeated the Geraldines in 1261, down to the present day, Fineen or Florence MacCarthys and Justin MacCarthys have been very prominent among the many distinguished men of the name in Irish military, political and cultural history.
Until the dissolution of the kingdom in 1596, the crown was vested in the hereditary possession of the Mac Carthy Mór (by the law of tanistry).
The MacCarthy Reagh dynasty are a branch of the MacCarthy dynasty. The MacCarthy Reagh seated themselves as kings of Carbery in what is now southwestern County Cork including Rosscarbery in the 13th century. Their descendants would expand their territories considerably and forge a small, wealthy kingdom distinct and independent from the larger Kingdom of Desmond, as well as largely independent from the Earldom of Desmond and from England, which would last into the early-mid 17th century. The dynasty became very successful during the 14th to 16th centuries, accumulating great wealth and possessing a great army.
Septs
Eleven septs of the illustrious McCarthy family in Kerry are given in Kings History of County Kerry
Burke, Bernard and Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Irish Family Records, or Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. 5th edition, 1976.
Byrne, Francis J., Irish Kings and High-Kings. Four Courts Press. 2nd edition, 2001.
Cronnelly, Richard F., Irish Family HistoryPart II: A History of the Clan Eoghan, or Eoghanachts. Dublin. 1864.
O'Keeffe, Eugene (ed. and tr.), Eoganacht Genealogies from the Book of Munster. Cork. 1703. (available here)
McCarthy (Glas), Daniel, A Historical Pedigree of the Sliochd Feidhlimidh the MacCarthys of Glean-nacroim, from Carthach, twenty-fourth in descent from Oilioll Olum, (1880; W. Pollard)
O'Brien, Michael J, The McCarthys in Early American History, (1921; New York, Dodd, Mead & Company)
McCarthy, Samuel Trant, The MacCarthys of Munster: The Story of a Great Irish Sept, (1922: The Dundalgan Press)
